update time

The last time I posted was before the Superbowl? That can't be right. And yet, there it is... my last entry prior to today, predicting the Steelers would win. Man, what's happened to me over the last... what, month?! Oh, wait... only two weeks. Well, that's a little better I guess.

Okay, so let's review. (Let me get some more coffee first.)

After the big game, I called my best friend and congratulated him. He grew up in Pittsburgh before joining the Marines. We first met about 12 years ago and, for anyone who's not familiar with the military lifestyle, to be in touch with someone from that long ago in your career (much less actually getting together with them from time to time) means that you are friends for life pretty much. Anyway, he told me that he's heading out to the Sandbox (Iraq) and in fact he should be there by now. Good luck, Bro!

I got a chance to speak with the man who cuts my orders transferring me here, there, and anywhere in between to discuss how my wants and the "needs of the Corps" could best reach an agreement so that I get orders to a place I'm needed and everyone's happy. In the end, we agreed that I would stay with my current unit for our next deployment later this year and before I get back, I'm to officially request reassignment via my chain of command. I'm eligible for promotion (again) this year and whether or not I get selected will greatly impact my next move. See, the military is kinda funny that way... we'll promote you and then try to find you a job. From what I understand, the civilian sector will promote people to fill a specific job or vacancy. I think ours is a little backwards in that regard, but hey... what're you gonna do?

So, it looks like I'll be heading "over there" again later this year. Fortunately, the battalion is supposed to be going to Okinawa to further deploy from there. You've heard of the 2000 Marines and the 2 war ships that have arrived in the Phillipines to help with disaster relief? That's the stuff we'd be doing. Throw in some bi-lateral training with friendly nations in the Pacific Rim and that pretty well sums up our mission. Like I said, not too bad. In preparation for our deployment, we've been shuffling a lot of people around, including our command staff. As of last week we have a new boss and a new senior enlisted advisor. I'm also relocating my office this week. I'm being shuffled to the end of the hall... out of sight, out of mind maybe? At least I should be able to secure a better parking spot.

On top of all this... we're starting a capital campaign at church. You ever watch a movie or show during PBS' membership drive? Kinda along those lines... "We hope you're enjoying today's sermon on 'Living the Life God Wants for You' and we'll get back to it in just a moment, but first we'd like to offer you this handsome duffel bag which can be yours with your pledge..." Okay, it's not THAT bad, but you get the idea. The kick of it all is that it's actually a growing process for us. Are we listening to what God wants us to do? Are we doing what God wants us to do? If the answers are 'no' then we shouldn't be surprised that we're not being blessed. If the answers are 'yes' then we shouldn't be surprised by whatever wonderful things come out of this... both in the church as a whole and in our own lives individually. Shoudld be interesting.

Anyway, that's what's going on here. I realize it's not that fascinating. I appreciate those of you who continue to read these posts. If you're looking for stories from and about deployed service members, then pleas check back in July. If not, then I hope you had a wonderful President's Day and may you have a great week. Hard to believe there's still another whole week of Olympics to watch. My family is getting tired of it, but I love the winter games... especially the bobsled competition. What's your favorite Olympic sport?

just so you know...

I have to get going for our church services this morning, but I wanted to officially get the word out before the game...

GO STEELERS!

Steelers by 7... Bettis scores on a dump pass... Hasslebeck gets intercepted twice.

Let's see what happens...

This week (in baseball?)

Do they still make that show? It was called TWIB, which stands for This Week in Baseball. I don't even remember which network it was on, but I remember that the show was about an hour and had highlights from the week in baseball (as the name might suggest) and kept you updated on the latest baseball news like trades or significant injuries and stuff like that. Anyway... I digress.

We've got an interesting week planned this week. The Anniversary of the 1st Marine Division is this week and our battalion has been designated as the host this year. I don't think we have to plan the big parade for Thursday, but we do get to have the veterans of the Division hang out with us for a couple of days and try to assure them that the Marine Corps is just as good today as it was back when they wore the blue diamond. We have a captain who's about to get promoted and the first thing he's going to do as a major will be to reenlist one of his corporals. Wish I could say that was my idea, but it wasn't. Still, it should be pretty motivating for all the Marines who get to see it. Anyway, I'll let you know how the week went once we get to the other end of it. Hope you all have a great week and let me know what's going on out there. They won't let me out of my cage anymore... I tend to run off.

Monday, Monday...

La, la... la, la, la, la!

I was right! I don't get to say that very often when it comes to pro football, but I got it 100% right this weekend. Now, we'll just have to see what happens in Detroit in two weeks. I'm going to put my foot in my mouth right now and say that the Steelers win by 10. Any takers?

Back to work again this morning. Should be a good day though. I have two reenlistments scheduled this morning for some of our key enlisted leadership and I need to get to the gym for lunch, but the rest of the day should be relatively quiet. Of course, having said that, I've just cursed myself with a hundred new check-ins or something along those lines. Oh well. That's why they call it "work" right?

Hope you all have a great week.

It's Friday again?!

Wow, seems like the past week went by fairly quickly. Hope you all had a good week. Mine was just there, it seems. Well, that's not true. There were a couple of highlights.

My *mumble-mumble birthday was Wednesday. My lovely wife got me some nice gifts to celebrate, including a new digital watch and a couple of movies. Her mom got me a gift card to Best Buy with the intent that I use at least some of it to get a memory card for the MP3 player I got for Christmas. Ya know, for things like that, I love having a January birthday... I can ask for accessories to Christmas gifts and I don't have to wait until July for my birthday to roll around. My folks sent me a gift card to Claim Jumper so we can go out and celebrate with dinner maybe this weekend. The kids got me a very nice tie and even though I don't wear ties very much anymore, I'm looking for an excuse to wear this one. Ooh! I can wear it to dinner! My sister renewed my magazine subscription for me. Thanks, sis! I don't think you quite understand how much that magazine means to me right now. It's almost like I'm emotionally attached to it. Actually, I spoke to a counselor a few weeks ago and she suggested taht I probably am emotionally attached to the magazine because model trains are so far removed from combat zones and people trying to shoot me that it's part of my coping mechanism for post-traumatic stress. I keep saying to myself, "Why do I have PTSD? I hardly ever left the base camps and worked inside most of the time?"

ANYWAY, the second highlight is sort of a mixed bag. As part of our career progression in the military, we receive periodic reviews of our performance from our superiors called fitness reports (or "fitreps") similar to those in the corporate world. Part of our fitrep indicates our current physical condition as far as height and weight to ensure that we are within Marine Corps standards. To make a long story short, I was a bit over my allowable max when I weighed in, but thanks to the patience of my senior leadership I was granted one week to get within standards. Now, I'm not suggesting this for anyone else out there, but when I weighed-in yesterday I topped the scales at 199 lbs. That was 10 pounds lighter from a week ago! I must admit, I practically lived at the gym for the past week and I'm sure about half of my weight loss was really just water weight, but I passed with flying colors! Now I just need to make it an honest weight loss so I don't have to worry about it. I went to a fitness trainer yesterday afternoon and got some pointers on how to lower my body fat and get into better all around shape. I'll be keeping tabs on that at my other blog, so feel free to stop by over there from time to time.

Hope you have a great weekend. Although I was totally bummed to see Carson Palmer get hurt during the wildcard game a couple weeks ago, I'm not convinced the Bengals would've won with him in the game. I think the Steelers are just that good. by the way, I called them beating the Colts. I did! I said at work that with the Colts having not played well in over a month and the Steelers being in win or go home mode since before Christmas that momentum was clearly on the Pittsburgh side of the ball. This weekend against the Broncos should be a good game and I'm going to stick with the gold and black for this one. Having a buddy who lives and dies for the Steelers helps with that call, and since I've become appreciative of the Chargers I can't very well root for their division rival can I? Of course not! Now, for the NFC. Honestly? I don't care. I think the smart money would be on the Seahawks because they have home field advantage and one of the best quarterback/running back combos in the business. Having said that, if Alexander gets hit too hard and turns gun-shy, it could easiliy tip the balance in favor of the Panthers. Still, I'm more interested this week in the AFC championship. Kinda weird for an Eagles fan, huh? Oh well, I guess that's way it goes sometimes. I'll say this now... If the Steelers win and get to go to Detroit, then I believe they have what it takes to win the whole thing.

Tell me what you think.

Quick word.

I've got duty today so I won't be able to babysit my kids while my wife and mother-in-law go see "The Lion King." That also means that I'll be short on sleep tomorrow and I will probably be late getting to church to play for the 9:00 service. I'll get there as soon as I can, Jerry.

Sometimes I really dislike my job. If I was a civilian HR guy I'd have the whole weekend off. Period.

Oh well. Someone has to stand this post to make sure the phone doesn't ring or whatever it is I'll end up doing today.

TGIF... the 13?!

Just cruising through my news headlines and saw a few stories that made me say, "Aha! Told you!"

Let's start with this story about an allegedly innocent man being murdered by the state of Virginia. Excuse me, the Commonwealth of Virginia. Actually, I'll just copy a quote from the story. They said it better than I ever could...

"We who seek the truth must live or die by the sword of DNA," McCloskey said. "This particular truth feels like a kick in the stomach."

Next, we have a sad story as yet more proof (like we needed any) that God is not welcome in the so-called institutions of higher learning, at least not in California. Give me a break. I thought colleges and universities were supposed to be about broadening our horizons and teaching us to think about other points of view, especially if they happen to differ from our own. Shows you what I know. A quote from this story just goes to show you how far some are willing to go to get God out of their way...

And this week, a group of parents in Lebec, Calif., sued to stop the high school from teaching intelligent design as a philosophy course.

Let's see... here's one. After the Democrats joyfully announced that they were the ones who have ended President Bush's reign of terror (or whatever they're calling his administration this week) we get this story from Disney News (aka ABC News) The story mentions how phones like these were used in Madrid a while ago to blow up the trains. NEWS FLASH: That's how they've been detonating IED's in Iraq for the last three years! Of course, without roving wire taps, we can't keep track of the people who pay cash for 150 phones at once. I'm done.

On to the Supreme Court. Here we have a prime example of what's wrong with Liberals. They made Judge Alito's wife cry during his confirmation hearings and received unsolicited word from his current colleagues at the Court of Appeals that he's a good candidate for this job.

For their parts, the seven judges — several of whom are Democrats — told senators that Alito would make an independent and ethical Supreme Court justice.

Yet, they still think they have the moral high ground concerning his nomination.

After four days of hearings, there are "even more questions about Judge Alito's commitment to the fairness and equality for all," Kennedy said.

This from a man who got drunk at a party while a woman drowned in his car! Give me a break.

Okay, having said all of that, I hope you have a great weekend and beware of mishief tonight. After all, it's FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH!